


I'd Never Leave Ya

by PanicFOB



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Drinking, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-17 04:43:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20615192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanicFOB/pseuds/PanicFOB
Summary: A Stark party you attend makes old feelings arise in the face of the man whose heart you broke two years ago. Inspired by the lyrics of Tequila by Dan +Shay.





	I'd Never Leave Ya

“We have to go, darling.” Maria said as she tried pulling you off your couch.

“But whyyyyyyy?” You fought her with all your strength, determined to avoid any party with the Avengers in attendance like the plague.

“Well, I have to go because Stark is my boss now, and you have to go because he personally invited you and he’s a very influential man. If Tony wants you at his party, he’ll make sure you regret it for not showing.”

“But he knows I have a good reason for not wanting to be there. Why would he invite me unless it’s just some sick form of torture?”

“Knowing Tony, it probably is, but you need to go anyway.”

“But Mar, he’ll be there,” you nearly hissed with dread in your voice.

“And you’re both adults who can manage to be in the same room for one night without killing each other, yeah?”

So, you let the woman drag you off your couch and walked willingly into Tony Stark’s evil trap.

“Y/N, it’s good to see you. How long’s it been?” Natasha cooed from behind the bar.

“Two years, I believe.”

“You guys still haven’t talked, have you?”

“Nope, and I don’t plan on it. Can I get a glass of wine?”

“Sure you don’t need something stronger?”

You considered her offer because getting blissfully drunk sounded so appealing right now, but you thought it might be best to keep a clearer head so that you didn’t make some sort of scene.

“Maybe later. Just the wine for now.”

“I’m surprised you’re not drinking tequila,” a deep voice said from behind you. “Then again, it’s probably better that you don’t.”

“Barnes,” you addressed him coldly, “so not nice to see you.”

“Likewise. Steve almost didn’t even come when he heard you were going to be here.”

You flinched a bit at the mention of Steve’s name.

“Well, you can tell him that the feeling’s mutual.”

“Is it though? Was it ever?”

You suddenly felt like you couldn’t breathe. You stood up from the bar, and tugged at the collar of your blouse, trying to get some air. “Don’t even start with me, Barnes.”

You made a hasty exit to the terrace in an attempt to clear your mind, but the memories were swarming you now. Glimpses of happy days under the sheets with a blue-eyed blonde. Steve using every excuse he could think of to get you on the back of his motorcycle. Ball games with him and Bucky and Bucky’s girl. Flashes of passionate nights spent doing deplorable things on any and every surface of your apartment. Serene moments cuddled up together reading or watching a film, Steve distracting you with his nimble fingers tickling your thighs. Echoes of Steve promising that you were it, that he’d never leave your side.

Pictures of you feeling trapped and suffocated appeared behind your eyes. Memories of the public catching instances of you two together and trashing you in the news and on social media. Believing that no woman could ever be good enough for Captain America, and certainly not you. Letting the bothersome emotions fester. And then letting them erupt when you were highly inebriated by tequila at a Stark party very much like this one. Steve telling you that you didn’t mean it, that you were just spewing drunk nonsense. You sticking to your actions and words the next day. Bucky telling you off for hurting his best friend. You distancing yourself from all the Avengers in an effort to move on.

It had all been too much back then, and it was still too much now. A life with Steve had been tooth-achingly sweet, flawlessly pristine. You could just never live up to the crippling expectations that had been thrust upon you by the public as Cap’s girlfriend. If Steve’s fans weren’t hating you, then they were demanding you give the man some babies right away. You felt like you had no control over your own relationship and your own life. So, with the help of some liquid courage, you had finally taken back that control… and you had broken both Steve’s heart and your own in the process.

When you reentered the party, it looked as if some sort of arm-wrestling tournament had commenced. Tony was wearing just the arm of one of his suits, and his hand was locked with Bucky’s metal one as they battled it out. A crowd had gathered around them and were cheering the two men on. You rolled your eyes. Nothing ever really changed around here.

“Winner goes up against Steve!” Tony shouted over the cheers.

You subtly glanced around for the man in question, and spotted him trying to sneak down a hallway to avoid having to participate in Tony’s antics.

Maybe it was to finally get some closure, maybe it was because what Bucky said had really bothered you, or maybe it was that you hadn’t ever moved on despite your best efforts. Yeah, it was all too much, but god if you weren’t still madly in love with Steven Rogers. You slid behind the bar, grabbed a bottle of tequila, took a large swig, slammed the bottle down on the counter, and took off down that hallway after Steve.

You found him in a lounge area, draped across a couch, staring up at the ceiling all melancholy. He didn’t hear you enter; you had the element of surprise. “Bucky seems to think I was never in love with you in the first place.”

He turned his head sharply to get a good look at you. “And?”

“Do you think that as well?”

He looked back to the ceiling. “I don’t know. Don’t really know what to think anymore. Haven’t for the past two years, really.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry… and Bucky is wrong.”

Vibrant blue studied you once more. “If Bucky is wrong, then why’d you do what you did?”

“Because your larger than life public image is just too much for a simple woman like me, Steve.”

“But if you really love someone, you make sacrifices to be with them.”

“Oh? And exactly which sacrifices were you making for me? I don’t recall any. I was the one having to live a life of scrutiny and perfection or I would have been chased away with pitchforks by your rabid fans.”

He sat up. “Okay, that’s fair. You were the one having to do all the sacrificing. But you should have just talked to me about these things. When something is bothering you, you’re supposed to turn to your partner for comfort, not distance yourself and then go on a drunken rampage and break up with them.”

“I just didn’t see any other solution besides breaking up with you. I can’t ask you to stop being Captain America. But I can’t stop feeling like that sort of life under the public eye was absolutely suffocating. I still feel it now, despite the fact that I’m so fucking in love with you, even though I haven’t seen you in two years. I still can’t even fathom repeating a relationship like that, no matter how much my heart aches for you, no matter how much I need you, Steve.”

“I could make a statement to the public telling them to back off. I can have Tony increase our security and privacy measures. We can sue any of the newspapers for libel if that will help. I just want to be with you, Y/N. Life is so much better, so much more worth living when you’re in it. No matter what the public thinks, I have no expectations of you except for one: just let me love you without pushing me away.”

He had stood from the couch and was walking toward you now. “Steve, I don’t know…”

“We can talk to Tony and Pepper first thing tomorrow to get some better ideas about how to combat the public scrutiny, I promise.”

His left hand was on your hip, and his right one was reaching up to cup your cheek. “Steve, I…”

“Y/N, please. I’ll make a million sacrifices for you, whatever you need. Just make this one for me so that we can both be happy and in love again.”

He pressed his forehead against yours. “In that press statement you mentioned, you better tell your fans that I’ll have your babies when I’m good and ready and that my uterus is none of their damned business.”

Steve chuckled, and his breath brushed across your lips. “Is that a yes?”

You smiled, and it reached all the way up to your eyes for the first time in two years. Steve returned it, and you watched the edges of his blue orbs crinkle lovingly. “That’s a yes.”


End file.
